


You warm me like the sun and guide me like the moon

by heartdonor



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Kinda, M/M, Other, mermaid au thingy, platonic!Tsukihina
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-07
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-08-20 10:46:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8246161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartdonor/pseuds/heartdonor
Summary: Tsukishima and Hinata are both mermaids that don't speak the human language !! They're also responsible for raising the moon and sun when it's day and night basically?? have fun lmao





	1. Chapter 1: A new friend

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nehanshika_524](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nehanshika_524/gifts).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revamped yay

Cerulean blue waves crash gently against the sand as Kenma sighs. He doesn't know what he’s doing here- he absolutely despises the beach. Kuroo  _ really _ owes him big time for this. In an attempt to get Kenma out of the house more, Kuroo had dragged him along with his two boyfriends to the ocean, making sure the phonecase Kenma brought was waterproof. As sensible as Kenma is, Kuroo knew he’d forget that he left his phone in his pocket, and he wanted to make sure the day didn’t end up in an anxiety attack. The stress of college, 2 part time jobs and living alone had really gotten to Kenma, and his best friend had desperately wanted to help relieve some of the stress. So as Kuroo and his boyfriends swim, Kenma lays on a towel with his 3ds in hand. 

 

Saving his game, he slips the ds into his bag. He stands, stretching, and grabs a small board that Kuroo had given him so that he wouldn't have to swim. Growing up in Tokyo, he rarely ever swam, and now he regrets not learning earlier. But, there’s a first time for everything, Kenma reasons, hugging the board to his chest. It’s a kiddie one, with some penguin sanrio character that he doesn’t know the name of surfing on it, but Kenma can’t complain. Taking a deep breath, he bites his lip anxiously and takes a step towards the water.

 

It's cold, colder than Kenna had anticipated, and he flinches upon sticking his foot into the water. As he shivers and wades deeper into the water towards where Kuroo is, his mind screams at him to turn back, to go back to the sand, to dry himself up and go home, but it’s too late now and as a wave crashes, he finds himself waist deep in the freezing water and his teeth chatter. Shivering, he wades deeper where he can see Bokuto and Kuroo having an intense splash war with poor Akaashi standing, unamused, to the side. They share a look of understanding, and Kenma cracks a small smile. Although Kuroo is his best friend, Akaashi is dating him and Bokuto, so all hell is bound to break loose. He somewhat feels bad for the boy, but he got himself into it, so he doesn't feel too bad. And even through all the mayhem and mischief that the three get themselves into (moreso Bokuto and Kuroo than Akaashi), Kenma knows how much they love each other.

 

Kenma’s never been in love before, at least not the kind the three his friends have, he reasons. Every person he’s ever loved, he’s loved in a negative way, so much that it made him want to shed his skin and be free, but it’s never happened that way. He isn’t too much of a people person, he understands that much. He’s never really dwelled on the fact, although sometimes, in the comfort of his apartment with his blanket wrapped around himself tightly and his soft cries filling the room, he desperately wishes he could have what Kuroo has. 

 

Kenma sinks in the water until it's up to his collarbones, holding onto his boogie board for safety, and realizes that it isn't too terrible in the water. The blond likes the way his toes sink into the sand, and the water isn't nearly as unbearable as it was a few moments prior. He lets himself relax for a bit before climbing onto the board to sit on it. It's a nice feeling, and he likes how he bobs with the ocean. 

 

Before he can comprehend what’s happening, a rather large wave crashes on him and sends him tumbling into the water, and for a moment, Kenna thinks he’ll drown. His only sense of security, his boogie board, slips out of his hands and somewhere unbeknownst to him. The water goes down the wrong pipe, and Kenma flails frantically, his limbs only meeting open water and no ocean floor. Trying to breathe again, Kenma once again chokes on water, spasming out. His vision starts to get blurry, and the last thing Kenma thinks is, if he dies because Kuroo dragged him here, he sure as hell will get him back. 

 

~~~~~

 

A hard blow to his stomach knocks Kenma out of unconsciousness, and he sputters, choking up the water and vomiting on the sand next to him. His body shivers as he vomits again, and he groans. At least he’s alive, but he doesn’t know exactly how. Gathering his strength, he turns his head to look around. There’s a gasp, and for a second, Kenma is face to face with a boy with wild orange locks. Kenma blinks, and the boy scrambles back into the water, golden brown eyes wide. For a moment, Kenma sits still, trying to comprehend what just happened. The only logical conclusion to his surprising survival is that this ginger haired guy who is currently staring at him from the water. He crawls over to the edge of the sand bank, forgetting his earlier weakness, and stares back at the ginger. The mystery boy wilts under his gaze, averting his eyes and backing away a bit, and Kenma internally panics.

 

“Wait.” He says, trying to keep the urgency out of his voice. This gets the ginger’s attention, and he slowly comes closer, inching towards Kenma with wide eyes. Kenma notices the strange orange plant like thing coming out from where the boy’s ear should be, and without realizing, he reaches out to touch it. The boy once again flinches, this time disappearing into the water completely. Kenma panics once more, the reality of the situation setting in. He’s all alone with no boogie board, no ability to swim, and he has no idea where he is even if he  _ could _ swim. The anxiety takes over, and Kenma’s breath quickens, and he tries to calm himself by hugging his knees to his chest. After a few moments, he feels wet arms embracing him, and a purring noise fills his ears. It’s soothing, and he leans into the touch, the sweet sound filling his ears.

 

As soon as he’s calm, he looks up, seeing the same light brown eyes from before, but this time, they’re filled with concern. The boy’s weird orange ear thingies twitch, and the purring sound deepens. The boy nuzzles his neck the way a cat would and looks back at him for approval. Kenma hugs him, staying there a bit before saying something.

 

“You were the one that saved me, weren’t you?” He asks, pulling away. The boy tilts his head to the side, a confused look washing over his face, but then he sits up, seemingly understanding before disappearing back in the ocean. Before Kenma can panic again, he resurfaces, this time with Kenma’s boogie board and his phone. He hadn’t even realized it had fallen out of his pocket, but Kenma takes the items gratefully. 

 

As the the ginger pulls himself onto the bank, Kenma realizes that he isn’t human. Instead of legs. the boy has a goldish orange tail that shimmers much like the water when the sun shines down on it. The boy notices Kenma’s starring and looks back, then pushes his tail towards him. He grabs Kenma’s hand and touches it to his tail, waiting for Kenma’s reaction. Kenma’s surprised at how smooth it is, and rubs his thumb over it subconsciously. The boy stares at him, and Kenma decides to return the favour, placing the merman’s hand on his calf and letting him feel around. The ginger beams, squeezing lightly with bright eyes, and although the feeling isn’t too pleasant, he’ll bare it for the smile the boy is giving him. He looks around Kenma’s age, he reasons, but he’s not sure if mermen age like human, so he puts the thought in his back pocket. The ginger seems done with feeling Kenma’s leg and looks up at him expectantly. Kenma gives a small smile.

 

“What’s your name?” He asks, and is once again met with a confused look. Kenma wonders in the back of him mind if the guy even speaks Japanese, but tucks the though away. “My name is Kenma.” The merman blinks, and Kenma sighs. Pointing to himself, he says it once more.

 

“I’m Kenma.” He says it slowly so that the ginger can understand, which sorta works. The merman makes an excited noise, somewhat like a bird, his orange seaweed ear things twitching.

 

“Kenma!” He says, beaming. Kenma nods slowly. 

 

“And you?” He asks, pointing to the merman. The ginger looks confused, then points to himself in understanding.

 

“Shouyou!” The merman says, wiggling excitedly in the sand. Kenma can’t help but find it cute, but he’s still curious about him. He rests his chin on his knee and looks at Shouyou thoughtfully. 

 

“Well, Shouyou, what exactly are you?” He knows he doesn’t understand Japanese super well, but he wants answers at least. Afterall, it’s not everyday you almost drown and get saved by a cute mermaid boy. He wants to know where he is at least, it’s pretty secluded and rocky. The merman, yet again, doesn’t understand the question, and instead pulls Kenma into the water with him as Kenma yelps, holding onto Shouyou tightly. Shouyou seems to understand his fear, and holds him close, waiting for him to adjust, before holding him so that he’s floating next to him. Kenma calms his breathing and looks at Shouyou expectantly. The merman points to his own throat then points to underwater. 

 

“Hold breath. Okay?” Shouyou’s Japanese is broken and grammatically incorrect, but it gets the point across. Kenma nods, taking a deep breath before Shouyou sinks underwater, pulling him along. Kenma is scared, he can’t swim and some strange merman is the one leading him, but since he was saved by him before, he knows that he trusts Shouyou. Opening his eyes and ignoring the slight sting of the salt water, Kenma finds himself surrounded by beautiful water plants and a variety of odd looking fish. He looks to Shouyou, who gives him a blinding smile and points at a pretty fish in particular. It’s magenta, but it’s tail brightens to a red, and although it’s small Kenma is still awestruck. 

 

The seaweed and coral are many different colors, and the scenery is peaceful. It reminds Kenma of an underwater wonderland, the dark purples and bright reds of the water plants decorating the pale sand nicely. It’s surreal, and Kenma has to take a moment to comprehend how he got here, his fingers threaded with the merman’s deep underwater when an hour ago he was anxious about wading ankle deep. 

 

Kenma begins to run out of air and taps Shouyou, motioning to his neck, and the merman nods in understanding. He’s taken into an underwater cave, and when Kenma feels like his lungs are about to burst, they resurface and Shouyou gently lifts him onto the cave floor. Shouyou, on the other hand, stays in the water, propping his head up with his hand as his elbow rests close to where Kenma lies. As Kenma catches his breath, Shouyou flicks his tail in and out of the water. The blond can’t help but stare at it- it’s beautiful, and Kenma doesn’t think anything could compare. It’s like liquid gold, fluid and glimmering, and he’s memorized until Shouyou speaks again.

 

“Kenma.” His voice is a bit pouty, as if he’s sad that Kenma isn’t paying attention to him. The tail flicks again, and the blond lets out a small laugh. This makes Shouyou beam. The smile quickly vanishes, however, when Kenma’s phone rings. The merman flinches, diving back into the water momentarily and resurfacing a bit further away from Kenma, eyes wide with panic. 

 

“Shh, shh you’re okay.” Kenma assures in the most soothing voice he can muster, before answering his phone. “Kuroo?” It must be urgent if he were to call instead of texting.

 

“Kenma, thank god.” He sounds distressed and Kenma feels his heart beat faster at the sound. 

 

“Kuroo, what’s wrong?” The blond knows his voice sounds distressed from the wide concerned eyes we gets from Shouyou. There’s shuffling at the other end.

 

“Kenma, where are you? It’s been over an hour, I’ve been texting nonstop. Are you okay? You can’t just leave like that.” Kuroo sounds upset, but Kenma knows the anger is just worry. He swallows, realizing that he has in fact been away for over an hour. It’s 2:30, and Kenma first got into the water around 1:00. No wonder Kuroo is worried. 

 

“I’m fine. I, um, almost drowned though.” He says, his voice unsure. “Someone saved me though, and I’m with him right now.” He adds quickly.

 

“You almost  _ what _ ?” Kuroo says, his mother hen voice coming out. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry. Agh, this is all my fault.” He sounds guilty, and Kenma feels bad.

 

“I’m fine. Shouyou saved me. Although, I’m not sure how I can get back, but I think he does.” Kenma reassures. Shouyou looks up at the mention of his name, brows furrowed in confusion and tail flicking out of the water in nervousness. Kenma pats his hand in what he hopes is a soothing manner. 

 

“Shouyou?” Kuroo prods, and Kenma nods although he knows he can’t see him. 

“Yeah. Um.” Kenma pauses, debating if he should tell his best friend about the merman he befriended. He knows Kuroo will want to meet him, especially if he comes back to see him again. Frowning, Kenma decides against it. Although he knows Kuroo will chastise him later for not telling him exactly what Shouyou is, he feels protective of his mermaid friend and he knows Bokuto and Kuroo both might make Shouyou uncomfortable by touching him or getting too close out of curiosity. And besides, a small, selfish part of Kenma wants the merman to himself, well at least until he knows him better. Although he’s scared of the ocean, he wants to know more about it now that Shouyou has shown up. 

 

“He’s a really good swimmer.” Kenma finished, his brain assuring him that this technically wasn’t a lie. But even holding back the full truth of the situation makes him feel a little guilty, especially with how much Kuroo freaked out. He bites his lips and waits for Kuroo to respond.

 

“That’s cool! Did you make a new friend?” Kuroo asks, and Kenma can hear the smile in his voice. The blond feels his face heat up a bit with the accusation, but he nods.

 

“Yeah. He doesn’t understand much Japanese though.” He says, looking at Shouyou fondly. Although they just met and Shouyou doesn’t understand him, he has a good feeling about him and he knows they’ll become close. How he knows that is unknown to him, but the feeling blooms confidence. 

 

“A foreigner? You pick the weirdest people to befriend.” Kuroo sounds amused, but he’s one to talk, dating someone whose appetite is insatiable and another who’s hair rivals his own bedhead. Kenma snorts.

 

“I suppose you’re right. After all, I’m friends with you.” He can hear Kuroo’s offended squawk and it makes Kenma laugh, causing Shouyou to giggle from where he floats in the water. 

 

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Kenma laughs more at this, smiling at Shouyou. He hears Bokuto scream something in the background and Kuroo quickly excuses himself to go handle whatever the situation was. Before he hangs up, he asks that Kenma returns soon, because they’ll be getting snowcones and he didn’t mind if Kenma’s ‘new best friend’ came and joined them. Kenma agrees before turning his full attention back to the merman. 

 

Shouyou makes that inquisitive bird noise again, brown eyes wide, and Kenma is so mesmerized that he almost kisses the ginger. He snaps out of it, realizing how close his face is to Shouyou’s, and begins to pull away. Shouyou follows him, however, the purring noise from earlier returning as he rubs his cheeks to Kenma’s. The blond feels his face heat up, surprised at his actions, and in the back of his mind he ponders if it’s considered normal in wherever Shouyou is from to be so affectionate towards others. He rubs back, although he’s a bit flustered, but he can’t fight the smile forcing its way onto his face, nor can he resist the one Shouyou’s giving him currently. Shouyou pulls away, the rattly excited purr dying down. 

 

“We need to get back to my friends, you know.”

Kenma says, patting Shouyou’s head. The purring noise starts up again, and like a cat, he rubs his cheek against Kenma’s hand, and Kenma has to stop thinking for a second because fuck this boy is cute. Finally, Shouyou ceases, pulling Kenma slowly in the water with him as if not to spook him. 

 

“Shore?” He asks, and Kenma nods. Shouyou hums in understanding and motions for Kenma to hold his breath again. He does, and the merman dives underwater, holding the blond close to his chest. In a jiffy, they’re back near the shore, but in a rocky area because Shouyou can’t let his tail be seen. Kenma gets up on the rock, waving to where Kuroo and his boyfriends stand,then turns back to

Shouyou. As much as he doesn’t want to leave him, he owes it to Kuroo for making him worried. He pats Shouyou’s wet ginger hair, ignoring the sad pouty look on his face. As he gets up to leave, Kenma almosts misses Shouyou’s soft voice.

 

“Come back?” The merman asks, his voice unsure. Kenma’s heart swells. 

 

“Of course.” He gives a small smile Shouyou’s way before running to catch up with Kuroo.

 

“What happened to your friend?” Akaashi asks later as he licks the tiger’s blood syrup dripping down his snowcone cup. Kenma shrugs.

 

“I didn’t know how to communicate for him to get out of the water.” He lies, eating a spoonful of green apple flavored ice. “Not that he’d want to.” He adds, thoughtfully. Bokuto pouts.

 

“Aw, but I wanted to meet him! We could show him around if he’s a foreigner. Is he here alone?” He asks, his voice way too loud when Kenma’s right in front of him. This does, however, get him thinking. Were there more or them? Was Shouyou alone? Maybe that was why he was so affectionate with him. 

 

“I don’t know. But wherever he was from, he sure was affectionate.” This got Kuroo’s attention.

 

“Did he make a move on you?” His mama bear side is coming out once more. Kenma quickly shakes his head.

 

“No. He was small. Smaller than me maybe. With bright ginger hair and golden eyes.” Kenma ignores his snowcone, which was melting, in favor of talking and smiling thoughtfully. “He was very curious and easily excited. And he rubbed his cheek against mine.” Kenma touches his cheek, deep in thought. He’s jerked out of them, however, when Kuroo and Bokuto decide to poke his side.

 

“Someone’s got a crush!~”

 

“Shut up.” Kenma says, but it has no bite. He eats his snowcone, which is now liquid, still thinking about the ginger merman. He doesn’t even notice when Kuroo and Bokuto start arguing about which flavored syrup tastes the best, intead opting to daydream if Shouyou were a human. 

 

“Did you get his number?” Akaashi asks softly, ignoring his two boyfriends entirely. Taking another spoonful of flavored liquid, he looks back to the ocean.

 

“No. But, I have a feeling I’ll see him again soon.” Meaning Kenma was making plans to drag his ass to the beach at the crack of dawn because he has nightclasses tomorrow and can’t go later in the day. He wants to learn more about him, to do more of that weird nuzzling thing, to teach him Japanese. He wants to hear that hypnotic purr again and, if possible, take him on land and show him around. He knows he’s not usually this quick to befriend someone, but something about Shouyou makes him excited and intrigued, so much that he wouldn’t mind leaving the comfort of his apartment in order to see him.

 

As they go back to the beach, Kenma revisits where Shouyou had dropped him off.

 

“See you soon….Shouyou.”


	2. Chapter 2: Learning and a salty merman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> kei's debut yayyyyyyyyyyyyy

The next morning, Kenma finds himself awake before dawn, packing a waterproof bag with everything he needs- a change of clothes, a notebook (to write down information about Shouyou with), a few snacks, his keys, bus pas, train card, a “Learning Japanese” textbook he had hurried to purchase the night before, snorkel gear, his phone and phone charger, a towel, and some sunblock. He already has on his swim trunks and rash guard under his baggy sweatpants and jacket, and as he sips the last of his coffee and walks out, he’s more than eager to see Shouyou again. 

 

Kenma rides his bike to the train station, parking it and getting on board as soon as the train comes in. It’s about an hour to get to the stop he needs to go to and another 15 minutes to be taken to the beach by bus, so he’s got time to kill. He hadn’t got to research the whole mermaid thing, so he passes the time by doing so. He comes across an interview video about a guy who claims he saw two mermaids. The video is two minutes long, but Kenma bites his lip. _ Fuck it _ , he reasons,  _ I can worry about paying the bill later _ . Slipping his headphones in, he clicks play.

 

“So you do believe you saw two mermaids?” The interviewer asks. She’s got dyed blond hair like Kenma, and her lipstick is a bright red. She looks comically short in comparison to the man being interviewed. 

 

“Yeah, I saw them. I was out fishing one day and there were these two mermaids- well they were males- and they were communicating without Japanese.” The man frowns, running a hand through his silvery hair, green eyes focused. “They were making weird noises, and from what it looked like, they were arguing.” The interviewer tilts her head to the side, fake interest on display.

 

“And what did they look like?” She asks, holding the microphone out to the man once again. 

 

“One of them had bright ginger hair.” He pauses. “Like, really bright. Orange basically. He had an orange tail too, and weird fin things instead of ears. And it looked like they both had gills on their neck.” He takes a deep breath. “And the other one had black hair and a blue tail. He was a bit intimidating, even from afar.” The lady nods, licking her lips before asking another question.

 

“Did they see you?” The guy nods.

 

“Yeah they did.”

 

“And what did they do when they saw you?” The guy looks down in thought.

 

“The black haired one made a noise and disappeared under the water. And the orange guy looked like a deer in the headlights before the angry one came back and dragged him down with him.” Although the guy looks like an idiot, Kenma can tell- he’s telling the truth. The interviewer nods, flashing a smile.

“Well thank you for joining us today!~” Kenma closes it before the outro can begin, checking how much data he used. 50 mb. Not too bad, per se. 

 

He spends the rest of the train ride investigating more, but no useful information comes up. When the announcer comes on the loudspeaker and Kenma has reached his stop, he grabs his bag and walks to the bus station. The walk there is nice, he can feel the ocean breeze against his hair and the air is fresh compared to the bumbling streets of Tokyo. He hops onto the next bus, spending the few minutes he has to listen to some of his favorite songs. Until now, Kenma had only been thinking about Shouyou and had forgotten his paranoia, but now the anxiety sits on his shoulder, whispering in his ear. He turns up the music louder and exhales shakily. At least the bus ride will be short.

 

When the bus stops, Kenma hurries to get off. His anxiety lessens as he sees the beach and hears the waves, but also increases in a sense. He’s scared to swim and he doesn’t know how he’ll find Shouyou, but his curiosity overrides everything. It’s only around 5 am, so no one is around, really, and he feels himself calm down. He sees a jogger, but she’s the only one out. Even on the train he was one of few there, and he was the only one on the bus. It’s barely light out, so even if there were people, there’s not a big chance that Shouyou will be seen by others. The weight on Kenma’s shoulders is lifted as he sees gold in the corner of his eye.

 

As he turns around, he sees him, eyes glowing gold along with the water. Kenma walks closer, mesmerised and Shouyou begins to make fluid arm movements. It looks like some sort of ritual, and as Shouyou moves his arms in a lifting motion, Kenma realizes that the sun rises with them. His arms are decorated with gold glowing lines, and they seep into the water as the sun brings pinkish orange light into the sky. When the sun is up, the glowing on the merman fades, and even from around 20 meters away, Kenma can still see him panting. 

 

His bag slung over his shoulder, Kenma dives into the water, not caring about his inability to swim. It’s cold, but he ignores it, and with great difficulty, he swims to Shouyou, who beams at him and rushes to embrace him. The merman is still panting a bit, but he looks better than before. It’s weird how Kenma is drawn to him, and he wonders in that moment if it’s because Shouyou is a siren. Either way, he wants to kiss the boy, but he prevents himself from doing so.

 

“How’d you do that?” He finally says, looking at the sun. Shouyou seems to understand.

 

“Sun?” He asks, and the blond nods. 

 

“Part time job.” Shouyou says, and technically, it’s not correct, but Kenma gets the message. He feels the merman’s tail flick against his tail, and he stiffens for a moment.

 

“Do you want to learn Japanese?” Kenma asks, but shakes his head, realizing Shouyou most likely didn’t understand. “Want. Speak. Japanese?” He makes motions with the hand that’s not holding onto Shouyou to try to help explain. The ginger nods, his orange ear fin thingies twitching with excitement. Although Kenma finds it weird, he also finds it absolutely adorable so it somewhat cancels out. He smiles warmly. “Take me back to shore then? I brought a book that can help.” Shouyou nods in understanding and begins to swim them both over, making sure they’re in a secluded area so that no one will accidently find a human with blond hair and black roots teaching a weird half fish half human Japanese. 

 

“You need to dry off a bit.” Kenma says, taking out a towel. Shouyou makes that inquisitive noise before Kenma begins to dry off his hair. The merman flinches but stays still, trusting the blond. When Kenma’s finished with his hair, he dries off his own as well as both of their arms. Shouyou nuzzles Kenma after in what the blond thinks is a ‘thank you’ but it makes him blush nonetheless. He pulls out the book and flips to the alphabet page.

 

“See this symbol?” Kenma asks, pointing to the character ‘あ’. “This is ah.” He points to Shouyou. “You try it.”

 

“Ah!” Shouyou says, loud and excited, and although Kenma’s ears aren’t happy, he doesn’t have it in his heart to tell him to be quiet.

 

“Good boy.” He pats Shouyou’s head awkwardly, but the merman beams. “Now this one is ee.” He pointed to ‘い’. Shouyou repeats it again, his confidence showing through. It takes a while, but they go through the vowels, and Kenma finally has time to move onto the consonants.

 

The teaching is long and tedious, and Kenma has never been one to be patient, but with Shouyou’s blinding smile and contagious happiness, Kenma feels he can put up with it. Shouyou has trouble with pronouncing the character ち, chi, and constantly pronounces it like another character, じ(ji). Every time he gets it wrong, Shouyou will pout, the end of his tail flicking with annoyance, but whenever Kenma says his name or pats his head, he perks up. He reasons that mermaids are affectionate creatures by nature judging by how often Shouyou would snuggle against him during the lesson. Kenma is always startled by the affection, and it makes his face heat up every god damn time, but he’s also honored, because even if it’s common in mermaid culture to be affectionate, they still only just met the day before. He takes it as a sign of trust, and every time the ginger lets out that weird purr noise, he feels his heart swell.

 

By the time Kenma taught Shouyou the full alphabet along with useful phrases and words (such as come here, yes, no, numbers, etc.) it was around 8 am and a few people, mostly joggers, were starting to trickle into the beach. In the back of his mind, Kenma was paranoid that someone would find them, but he quickly got rid of the thought.  Turning to Shouyou, he saw he was doodling something in the sand and leaned over to look.

 

“What’s that?” Kenma asks, looking over his shoulder. Shouyou writes out both his own and the blond’s name in the hiragana he was just taught next to the small drawings he’s done. From what Kenma can see, one has a tail (he assumes it’s Shouyou) and one has legs. 

 

“Us!” He exclaims happily, his tail waving side to side as he puts the finishing touches on the sand art. Kenma can’t help but blush at this- curse mermaids and their god damn cuteness. His mind briefly drifts to the possibility that there are other mermaids, and he taps Shouyou on the shoulder.

 

“Are there more of you?” He asks, pointing to the mini merman drawing of of the mermaid. Shouyou nods.

 

“Yes, more.” He draws another mermaid. “Kei.” He frowns a bit. “Kei mean spirited. Sometimes.” He pouts a bit, puffing up his cheeks, and Kenma can’t help but giggle. He pulls his knees to his chest, looking thoughtfully out to the ocean.

 

“I wish i could take you on land with me. It would be difficult though, considering I don’t have a car, and I couldn’t take Kuroo’s without feeling guilty.” Kenma sighs, looking at the golden eyes that are Shouyou’s. “But I want to show you our world. You took me to the cave and under the water, now I want to take you on land.” He props his chin up with his hand. “If only I knew how. You’d really like the taste of human food I bet.” He paused. “Not that I can cook, really.” Looking back at Shouyou, he blushes a bit. The look the ginger is giving him is one of pure admiration. Kenma pats his head. “You probably don’t understand a word I’m saying.” He knows Shouyou understands that, because he laughs a bit.

 

“Nope.” He says with a grin, and Kenma chuckles along with him. His phone goes off, playing a dumb cat meow remix to some pop song indicating that Kuroo is calling. Shouyou freezes up, eyes wide again, but Kenma pats him as he answers.

 

“What?” He asks, slightly irritated that his time with Shouyou was interrupted and that the phone ringing made Shouyou scared. Kuroo scoffs over the phone. 

 

“Where’s my ‘Hello, good morning Kuroo, my best friend, my qpp, I owe you my life.” Kenma rolls his eyes at this.

 

“What do you want?” Kuroo laughs.

 

“I wanted to see if you wanted to hang out. Get out of that ratty old apartment of yours.” Kenma bristles at this. 

 

“I  _ am _ out. And it’s not ratty.” He mumbles the last part. 

 

“You?? Are out before noon??” Kuroo fake sniffles. “My baby is all grown up.” Kenma, yet again, rolls his eyes. Kuroo sobers up. “What are you doing then?” He asks inquisitively. Kenma panics, and Shouyou can see it because he comes close to him.

 

“Kenma?” Kenma relaxes a bit, patting his fluffy ginger hair. He’d never seen it dry before, and now it’s wild and curls in random directions.

“Who’s that?” Kuroo asks, and Kenma feels the anxiety come back. He can probably tell him that it’s Shouyou, but knowing Kuroo, if he did that he would come barrelling over. Kenma rarely hung out with people, and if he voluntarily went to meet someone he met just a day prior, it was a big deal. But then again, lying to Kuroo made him extremely anxious. Looking at Shouyou, he decided to tell the truth.

 

“Shouyou.” He held his breath.

 

“The guy from the beach before?? Where is he? I have to meet him now.” Kenma’s hand shakes.

 

“You don’t, actually.” He doesn’t know why he’s so anxious about sharing his mermaid friend with Kuroo, but he is. Maybe it’s a safety thing- he knows a lot of people would kill to dissect the merman for science. Just thinking about it makes his stomach churn. But he  _ knows _ that Kuroo, or his boyfriends for that matter, would never do something to hurt one of his friends. Squeeze hium maybe, but that would only be seconds of discomfort. Like a slap to the face, the blond realizes that  _ it’s not his decision _ , and that he should ask Shouyou how he feels about it. “Hold on.” He says into the phone, then turns to the merman.

 

“Want to meet Kuroo?” Shouyou cocks his head to the side cutely.

 

“Who?” 

 

“Friend.” The ginger bites his lip, looking away.

 

“Bad?” Kenma shakes his head.

 

“No.” Shouyou seems to calm down at this, waving his tail from side to side again.

 

“Sure!” He chirps, and Kenma’s heart thuds in his chest because he’s just so  _ cute _ . Holding his phone to his ear, he speaks to Kuroo again.

 

“Alright. We’re at the beach from yesterday. Give us space though. I’ll introduce him later.” Kuroo agrees, teasing a bit, and then hanging up. Kenma sighs in relief. Disaster averted. Shouyou nudges him.

 

“Teach me more!” Kenma nods, smiling. Although it had been hard and a teensy bit frustrating at first, Shouyou is learning fast. Getting the textbook back open on his lap, he begins to teach more vocab and sentence structures.

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

It’s a few hours later when Kuroo and his boyfriends arrive to the beach. Akaashi had been reluctant at first, considering the day prior he had been splashed by both of his boyfriends mercilesly. But after some convincing and a promise that he would be off limits when it came to their splash war (a promise that would most likely be broken) he agreed to come, only because it would be for Kenma’s sake. He didn’t know the blond too well, but he knew him well enough to know that he was shy and for him to make a new friend was a big deal. 

 

“So where’s Kenma and his new friend?” Bokuto is practically jumping with excitement. Akaashi gives him a look.

 

“Kuroo promised we’d give him space. We’ll meet his friend when he’s ready.” Bokuto pouts at this. A hand hold from Kuroo is all that it takes to make him smile again, and Akaashi can’t help but smile back. He holds Bokuto’s other hand and together, they set up their lawn chairs and blanket as well as an umbrella. 

 

Bokuto and Kuroo take off their shirts, Bokuto yelling excitedly and both of them racing into the cold water. Meanwhile, Akaashi slips off his own quietly. He isn’t really in the mood to swim, but he plans to explore. He’s heard theres some pretty caves and seaweed beds, so he thinks he’ll rent out snorkel gear.

 

After paying for the equipment and buying a disposable underwater camera, he slips on the mask and loops the camera’s strap around his wrist, heading in the water. The waves aren’t too big today, so he should be alright. He ignores the cold as he gets in and begins to swim, looking at the fish. It’s beautiful- the bright coloured fish and the different types of underwater plants. He snaps a photo of a bright pink coral, and think to himself,  _ 2500 en well spent _ . 

 

If the photos he takes are good enough, it would be nice to have a few around their place, just to make it look less chaotic. Both Bokuto and Kuroo don’t really care for house decor, and their apartment is usually too messy to do anything about it. But having simple photos like these would be nice. Akaashi snaps a few more before swimming to a different area. A large opal colored tail catches his eye, and he turns around snapping another photo before realizing.

 

The pale colored fin belongs to a man- no- a merman. He has pale blond hair that’s surprisingly short, and his tail is extremely long. Akaashi almost forgets to breathe as the merman swims to one of the fish, petting it. The fish stays near him for a bit and then swims away, leaving the merman alone near a bed of kelp. 

 

The blond looks bored, about to swim away when he spots Akaashi. He looks from the camera in the snorkeler's hand to his face, gold eyes widening and then narrowing. He swims quickly to Akaashi, and for a minute, the human is scared, but the merman seems to only want his camera. The blond takes it off of Akaashi’s wrist and smashes it against a nearby rock. 1000 en down the drain, but the human is glad he has his life.  

 

The blond quickly darts away, and Akaashi tries to follow as best as he can, curious. The fins on his feet that came with this snorkel gear help, and he’s able to trail the merman into a cave. There’s a surface in the cave, one that the mermaid hoists himself onto to lay on, and Akaashi does the same. Gold eyes look ever to him, and the blond uses his arms to scooch away as far as possible, fear evident.

 

“Wait.” Akaashi says, removing his snorkel gear and fins and crawling over to where the merman is huddled. The blond’s eyes are wide and he tries to push Akaashi away, but the human grabs his wrist. “I won’t hurt you. You understand?” The merman slowly calms down, panting a bit, the gils on his neck opening a bit, but he stops trying to push Akaashi away. Akaashi backs away a bit, giving him space.

 

“Are you okay?” The merman’s eyebrows knit together in confusion. 

 

“Yes.” He says, sitting up a bit. Akaashi reaches to touch his tail, but the blond flinches. 

 

“Sorry sorry.” He pulls his hand away. “I just wanted to touch it. Is that okay?” He hovers his hand again, and the merman seems okay with it, so he touches it. It’s slimy and smooth, and he can feel each individual scale as he runs his hand over it. Weird.

 

“You won’t hurt me?” The merman has an accent of some sort- or maybe he doesn’t speak Japanese well. Akaashi shakes his head.

 

“No, I won’t. I just wanted to see you.” Akaashi confesses, pulling his hand off of his tail. “I’m Akaashi. Or, Keiji, if you want to call me that.” The merman narrows his eyes a bit.

 

“Why?” He asks, still defensive. Akaashi is patient.

 

“Because, as a human, I’ve never seen a mermaid.” He says, looking straight into those gold eyes. The merman stands his ground, looking back, seemingly unamused. He finally cracks though. 

 

“Kei.” He mumbles.   
  


“What?” The blond looks annoyed.

 

“Name. Is Kei.” He says, and Akaashi can tell this time that he doesn’t know Japanese too well. He briefly considers calling his boyfriends over to come talk to this defensive merman, but he knows they’ll scare him away. This sit there together in silence for a bit.

 

“Do you want me to leave?” The raven haired human doesn’t want to push his boundaries. Kei seems to think about it for a minute.

 

“No.” He says finally. “If you tell no one.” His eyes are fierce as he says this last part. Akaashi nods.

 

“Of course.” Kei looks away with a huff, and even when he looks mad, Akaashi finds him beautiful. This face is sculpted delicately, almost feminine, and those piercing gold eyes give him chills. The merman’s tail is long, and Akaashi decides that if Kei were human, he would be tall.

 

“I should probablyo head back.” Akaashi says finally, reaching for his snorkel gear. “It was nice meeting you though.” Kei frowns, and stiffens when the human reaches over to touch his shoulder. “Goodbye for now.” He slips on the gear and dives back into the water. He wants to give the mermaid space, especially considering how defensive he was. He swims back to where his boyfriends are  _ still _ having a splashing war, and wonders what he had done to deserve this hell. 

 

An hour later, after Akaashi had been dragged into the water fight, he stands shoulder deep in the water. It’s nice to relax after getting water up his nose so many times. He feels a light brush on his shoulder and turns to see the merman from before. Akaashi feels something being slipped into his hands, and in a flash, Kei is gone. He wonder if he’ll ever see the blond again. He brings his hand up out of the water, finding his camera from before-the one Kei had smashed- but now it was all fixed. In fact it looked brand new. Walking out of the water, a small grin on his face, he knew he’d  _ definitely  _ see Kei again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOOO this is slightly longer but yeah :3c
> 
> also! idk if anyone will try to correct me but in japanese we say "en" and not "yen" (im pretty much fluent so i mean...yeah) and all of the hiragana is correct i believe (unless i made a careless error but yeah!) feel free to give corrections if you're a japanese speaker (only please idk sometimes ppl try to correct me when they just google translate and it makes me mad) but yeah!!
> 
> hmu on tumblr: boysofts


	3. Chapter 3: Everyone meeting everyone!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kenma, Kuroo, and Bokuto meet Kei, and the three bfs meet Shouyou as well!!!

All four of them- Akaashi, Kenma, Kuroo, and Bokuto- return to the beach the next day. Kenma had evaded the meetup between Kuroo and his new friend, Shouyou, and the argument had almost resulted in an anxiety attack on Kenma’s end. The final agreement was that he would show Shouyou to them all today, and although the blond protested at first, he finally gave in. He doesn’t enjoy keeping secrets from Kuroo, and he knows they won’t do anything to hurt Shouyou. Logically, the only thing holding him back is his anxiety, or at least that’s what Kenma tells himself as he walks to where he agreed to meet Shouyou the day prior.

 

Yesterday, Kenma had given Shouyou the gift of a waterproof watch, communicating to him the time he’d be there today. Shouyou seemed to understand, and Kenma hopes that he’s there when they arrive. Anxiety bubbles inside of him, but Kenma pushes it down, gesturing for his friends to get into the water by the tidepools. They swim to a rock and climb on it, the water quite deep now. Kenma looks around for the bright orange hair he’s grown to love, and spots him on a smooth rock a bit further below. 

 

Shouyou is accompanied by another mermaid, a blond one with a longer tail that’s a pale iridescent white. Kenma’s surprised, but not really. He’d imaginied there’d be more than one mermaid, especially after that interview he’d watched. He can imagine Kuroo’s wide eyes even without looking at him.

 

The two mermen are sitting close to each other, brushing cheeks. Kenma can recognize Shouyou’s loud rattly purr, but it’s accompanied by another noise, this one quieter. Shouyou’s eyes are closed, eyes graced with a smile as he nuzzles the other. The blond doesn’t seem to happy about it. 

 

Bokuto nearly slips on a rock and lets out a yelp, causing the mermaids to snap their heads up, the purring coming to a halt. The blond one moves to slip into the water, but Shouyou stops him with a weird noise. The blond looks up, gold eyes narrowed, at the four of them. Kenma can hear Bokuto swallow out of fear.

 

Rolling his eyes, Kenma climbs down to meet Shouyou, rubbing his cheek to the mermans. He’s pretty sure it’s a greeting, and Shouyou purrs again when he does it. The other mermaid glares at him, but he’s not scared. Kuroo and his boyfriends climb down eventually.

 

“Kei.” Akaashi says, kneeling down in front of the blond mermaid. The blond frowns, but doesn’t move away. Instead he looks from Shouyou to Kenma, then to Bokuto and Kuroo, and finally his eyes land back at Akaashi. He looks wary of them, but another noise from Shouyou seems to convince him to stay. 

 

“Keiji.” The blond finally speaks, and Kenma can already tell that this merman’s Japanese is much better than Shouyou’s. Akaashi nods, reaching out to touch the merman’s skin. ‘Kei’ doesn’t move away, and allows his cheeks and fin thingies to be touched. Bokuto and Kuroo stand gaping, and Kenma snickers.

“Akaashi, Kuroo, Bokuto. This is Shouyou.” Shouyou looks up at his name, brown eyes excited. His tail flaps in the water and Kenma giggles. The ginger is cute when he’s excited. “I’m guessing the blond one’s name is Kei?” He looks to Akaashi for confirmation, and Kei looks uninterested.

 

“Yeah. He broke my camera yesterday, but fixed it.” Akaashi pats his head and Kei doesn’t seem too bothered by this. Bokuto finally speaks.

 

“This is so cool!” He grins widely, rivalling Shouyou’s own bright smile. Kuroo frowns a bit, seemingly more confused than anything.

 

“How do you know they’re not dangerous?” Kuroo finally says, kneeling down to where Kei sits. He pokes the blond’s face, who gives a warning sound, akin to a growl. “They could be sirens for all we know.” Akaashi gives him a pointed look.

 

“They would have eaten us by now if they were.” He lightly slaps Kuroo’s hand as the ex captain tries to poke Kei again. “I’m sure he’ll get annoyed and eat you if you continue that though.” Kuroo pouts lightly, turning to Shouyou to poke instead. The ginger looks confused and then pokes back, and Kenma has to stop it from turning into a poking war.

 

“I wonder if they can be taken out of the ocean.” Bokuto says absentmindedly as he watches Shouyou’s tail flick back and forth a bit later. Kenma frowns at the question. Although he’d considered taking Shouyou to his apartment, he’d never thought to do it. He knows Shouyou would love to see the world, but seeing as he brings the sun to the sky each morning, he doesn’t know how that would work out. He’s snapped out of his thoughts as Shouyou taps him on the shoulder.

 

“Wait.” He whispers in Kenma’s ear, and while Kenma is flustered by the closeness, he disappears into the water. Kei frowns for a moment from where he sits near Akaashi, but soon relaxes. Shouyou pops up out of the water and sets something on the rock Kenma’s sitting on.

 

“For you.” Shouyou says, a big grin on his face and the ear fin thingies on his head fluttering with excitement (something Kenma finds weirdly adorable). Blushing, Kenma tucks a strand of hair behind his ear, inspecting the gifts. They’re shells, beautiful ones, and he looks at Shouyou in admiration. 

 

“Thank you.” Kenma is embarrassed, but the way Shouyou waves his tail out of the water in excitement makes it worth the blush on his face. He sees Kuroo’s smug grin in the corner of his eye, but ignores it in favor of doing the cheek rub thing again with the ginger. Shouyou purrs loudly and pushes himself up onto the rock again, laying himself out so he can dry off a little.

 

“Why does he make that noise?” Bokuto asks, looking at Shouyou curiously. “Kei doesn’t do it.” 

 

“I’m pretty sure they do it when they’re happy or relaxed.” Akaashi says from where he sits next to Kei, legs crossed. “He’s wary of us. It’s just his personality, I’m sure.” He looks at Kei thoughtfully, who blinks in confusion. As good as his Japanese is, it doesn’t come close to a native’s, so he understands why Kei is confused. Although Akaashi doesn’t know Kei well, he’s quite fond of him. He’s never seen anything so pretty in his life, and the fact that Kei trusts him out of the humans makes him feel somewhat accomplished. He wonders if the merman will let him rub cheeks as Shouyou and Kenma did, although he doubts it, at least at this point in time. He imagines it’ll feel odd as well, but the desire to do so still stands in Akaashi’s mind.

 

Shouyou and Kenma go off to god knows where after the ginger converses with Kei via weird bird noises. Kei seemed to understand, hesitating before letting them go, and now he turns to the other humans. Kuroo surprises him when he slips into the water next to the blond, and the fins on each side of his head move back a bit. Bokuto jumps in with a loud splash, and Akaashi joins them, taking his place besides Kei promptly.

 

“So, you’re Kei then?” Kuroo asks after a moment of silence.

 

“Yes.” Bokuto practically pounces on him.

 

“I’m Bokuto! Or you can call me Koutarou if you want!” Kei wrinkles his nose at the close proximity of the human, but nods.

 

“Koutarou.” He says, trying out the name. Bokuto squeals, looking to Akaashi, as in ‘look he said my name isn’t he adorable holy shit.’ The shorter agrees internally. Kuroo steps in.

 

“Tetsurou is my name, but you can call me anyti-”

 

“Kuroo.” Akaashi warns, green eyes glaring at gold ones. Kuroo backs down.

 

“Sorry sorry. But I’m Tetsurou.” He repeats, holding out his hand to the blond. Kei looks from the hand to the human attached to it, eyebrows raised in a mixture of confusion and annoyance. Kuroo drops his hand, realizing his mistake. “Oh, it’s a human greeting. Nothing intimate, don’t worry.” Kei looks over to Akaashi for confirmation who nods. He takes Kuroo’s hand and is instead pulled into a hug. He panics for a moment, squirming in Kuroo’s arms, and pushes him away as soon as he’s let go. Kuroo frowns.

 

“Sorry to scare you, I just wanted to hug you.” He sounds concerned, so much so that Kei reconsiders his actions. Slowly, he moves forwards and recreates what the human had done a moment prior. Akaashi snaps a quick photo with the disposable underwater camera he had from the day before. Kei’s ear fins twitch at the noise, and he pulls away from the hug eventually. He’s taller than Kuroo when he’s floating and the human is standing given that his tail is so long. Kei doubts the humans have malicious intentions, but it comforts him to know that if they were to try anything, he’d emerge victorious. On land, at least.

 

It’s was late afternoon when the four arrived, and now the sun begins to set. Kenma and Shouyou come back eventually, the ginger yawning adorably. Kei had spent most of the time Shouyou had been gone dodging Bokuto’s grabbing hands, as the human was desparate to try to pick him up. In the end, Bokuto does end up carrying him, picking him up out of the water bridle style. The moment is brief, but the three humans are mesmerized by how beautiful he looks- pale arms wrapped around Bokuto’s neck and his silvery opal tail against the human’s tan skin, so long that part of it is still submerged in the water. When the other merman arrives with his human friend, Kei flails into the water, embarrassed. Bokuto pouts at this.

 

Kei looks at the sky, gold eyes watching as the sun slowly makes its descent beyond the horizon. He pats Akaashi’s shoulder and gives a look in the direction that Kuroo and Bokuto are in, then slips deeper into the water. He gestures for them to get in as well, mischeif in his eyes. Akaashi raises his eyebrows at his boyfriend, but follows, waiting for them to do so as well. Kei swims a bit away, looking around to make sure that the area is secluded enough for him to start, and then does just that.

 

Silver seeps into water, Kei laying flat on his back in the water. He moves himself upwards, glowing lines covering his torso, arms, and even his face. The once amber eyes are now a soft grey- Akaashi can see it even from a bit aways. The merman moves his arms fluidly, like a dancer would, and with a particular movement, the moon starts to rise. The dusty warm hues begin to leave the sky as Kei uses his abilities to make he moon take its place along the horizon. With one last huff, the moon is fully visible, and the silver lines on the blond’s body begins to fade. After catching his breath, Kei swims back over to the others, a small but smug grin on his face. Kuroo stays gaping, and Bokuto traps him in a bear hug.

 

“That was beautiful!” Bokuto says loudly, ignoring Kei’s squirming and hugging him tighter. Thin arms attempt to push away the human’s tan muscular ones, to no avail. Akaashi eventually takes pity on him, telling Bokuto to knock it off, but as soon as he’s off, its Kuroo’s turn. 

 

“So you’re magical?” He asks, letting go of Kei after a moment. The merman looks annoyed, or at least is pretending to be- his fin ears twitch as Shouyou’s have before, insinuating excitement. He lets out a huff.

 

“I don’t understand.” The blond says finally, arms crossed. Akaashi can’t help but crack a smirk- Kei’s attempt at hiding his love for the affection is a bit cute.

 

“We mean you made the moon go up.” Bokuto says, using his hand to point wildly. “That’s so cool! I always thought it was science!” Kuroo scoffs.

 

“It  _ is _ science. But now we know what helps science at the very least.” Bokuto doesn’t seem to be phased by this, and Kei stays frowning. He ignores them in favor of quickly rubbing his cheek against Akaashi and then heads back to where Shouyou lies with Kenma. 

 

“Hey! Why’d he do that to you and not me?” Bokuto pouts, feathers ruffled. Kuroo opens his arms.

 

“I’ll rub cheeks with you bro.” Bokuto hugs Kuroo.

 

“Bro!” 

 

As Bokuto and Kuroo stay in each other’s arms, rubbing their cheeks against each other’s in a speedy and ridiculous way, Akaashi fights a blush on his face. Kei’s cheek had been wet, and the fin thingy brushed against him in a creepy gross way, but he can’t bring himself to mind. Although he thought it had just been the merman’s odd beautiful appearance, Akaashi realizes that he might have the smallest bit of a crush on Kei. Something akin to admiration and ‘holy shit you’re literally an ethereal being.’ Either way, he wants to get to know the merman more, and he knows his boyfriends want to as well.

 

Kei swims to where Kenma sits, Shouyou still napping. The merman pokes the ginger in the ribs, dragging a whine out from Shouyou. From the corner of his eye, Kei can see the human’s lips twitch upwards in a smile at the noise. He pokes him again, and this time, Shouyou wakes up, an inquisitive noise escaping his lips as his ear fins twitch in annoyance. Kei makes a strange noise and rubs their cheeks together and the ginger makes a noise of confirmation. As Shouyou leaves, Kei turns to Kenma.

 

“Rest.” He says, and for a moment the human looks confused. Kei sighs. “Shouyou needs rest. Sun all day. He’s worn.” Kenma nods, slightly disappointed, but he should probably get home anyways. He’s skipped his computer programming class for the second night in a row, and he wants to catch up on the homework he’s missed.

 

Kuroo and his boyfriends climb back up onto the rock, Kuroo helping Kenma stand.

 

“We’ll come back tomorrow? Or do you have class.” He asks the blond, who bites his lip.

 

“I have a class at 10. I can’t miss it.” Kuroo nods.

 

“Join us after? I want to know more about our new mermaid friends.” He wiggles his eyebrows and Kenma jabs him lightly on the gut.

 

“Sure. But don’t bother Shouyou.” He says sternly. The blond is already a bit jealous considering that all five of them will mingle without him, and the feeling surprises him. Kenma’s not usually one for social interaction, but the past few days with the excitable mermaid has really affected him in more ways than one. 

  
The four humans bid their goodbyes to Kei and on the way home, Kenma runs his fingers over one of the still sandy shells that Shouyou had given him, a small smile on his face. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no chapter (kinda) It's a bit short but I've been havin some issues in my life recently so I hope it's acceptable. I had a lot of trouble with writing this especially with so many characters in one scene. Luckily my friend alex helped me thru it so shoutout to them!! Lots of dialogue in this one tho :0 Expect more bokuakakurotsuki in the next chapter!!
> 
> Also, since Valentine's was just here I'm writing a one shot akatsuki valentine's day fic!! I might turn it into a collection and include kenhina and a few other of my fave pairs (and polya ;)) so check that out if you want!! Thank you for all the sweet comments!!!


	4. Chapter 4: Puns and snark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kei being a little shit basically

Kuroo wakes up to black hair in his face. With a groan, he snuggles Akaashi’s neck, noting that Bokuto is already out of bed. He feels Akaashi shift so that his arms are around him, and he indulges himself, clinging onto his boyfriend in laziness. It’s already light outside from judging from how bright it is from what Kuroo can see through the sliver of window that isn’t covered by the blinds. There’s a thump on the bed, and suddenly both of them are attacked by kisses. Bokuto laughs as Kuroo half-heartedly pushes him away.

 

“Come on you lazy bums. I made breakfast.” Bokuto’s voice is much too loud for his boyfriends, who had just woken up, but the smell of coffee and eggs wakes them up a bit more.

 

“I love you, Koutarou.” Akaashi says sleepily, unlatching himself from Kuroo and placing a kiss on Bokuto’s cheek. He stretches before looking at Kuroo. “You coming? We agreed to go to the beach today, you know.” Kuroo groans again, digging himself deeper into the covers. He’s tugged out by Bokuto, whom chuckles again at Kuroo’s sleepiness.

 

“Bo, carry me.” He pouts and his boyfriend indulges him, lifting him up bridal style and carrying him to the kitchen. God bless his strong boyfriend. They eat, mostly in silence apart from Bokuto’s chatter. Akaashi and Kuroo are still half asleep, and eat their meal like zombies. The coffee is amazing- something about Bokuto in the kitchen making anything just makes everything taste delicious, bless him.

 

“So!” Bokuto says, practically bouncing in his seat. “What should we bring the mermaids!” He quirks his head to the side. “Mermen?” Kuroo swallows.

 

“Oh yeah, Chibi-chan and Tsuki.” He recalls, receiving a jab from Akaashi, who gets up to clean the dishes. “Hey! What was that for?” Kuroo pouts, making Bokuto chuckle.

 

“They have names.” Kuroo snorts.

 

“Yeah: Chibi-chan and Tsuki.” Akaashi rolls his eyes at this, scrubbing away.

 

“You forgot them, didn’t you.” He accuses, and Kuroo mocks an offended look.

 

“How dare you~! I know their names!” Akaashi raises his eyebrows.

 

“Really? Then say them properly.” He places his hands on his hips, and Kuroo is at as loss.

 

“Um...the small orange one is Sh...Shou something.” He looks to Bokuto for confirmation, knowing he’s dug his own grave. “And moon man is Ke….Kenji?” Akaashi places a dish on the rack to dry.

 

“Shouyou and Kei.” Bokuto is practically howling with laughter, and Kuroo fakes offense. After a half hour of mock arguing, Akaashi’s had enough.

 

“You asked what we’re going to bring the mermaids. I think a book maybe. Kei would like that.” He says, sitting back down besides Bokuto to finish his coffee. The three agree on a few children’s books that they think the two will like and begin to pack everything else. It’s only 9:30 now, so they pack lunches as well as everything they’ll most likely need for a regular day at the beach. Kuroo sends a quick text in confirmation to Kenma, who agrees to head to the beach as soon as he gets out of class. He can’t hold in his smirk in realization that the three of them will be alone with the mermaids for a few hours. He may or may not have some things up his sleeve.

 

They grab their things and head to the train station. Half of the ride is a playful argument between the three about whether or not mermaids need to eat food to survive. Kuroo argues that obviously they do- especially with the ocean being so cold, they need food so they can have meat on their body. Bokuto says that they obviously don’t considering they’re celestial beings who have magical girl powers. The argument ends with the train ride, Akaashi finally saying “let’s just ask them.” as they walk off the train.

 

After a short bus ride, they arrive at the beach, Bokuto sprinting towards the water as Akaashi and Kuroo make their way there slowly, carrying all their things. They set up their things in the sand, and follow Bokuto, who’s already in the water, conversing with the two. Shouyou looks excited, swimming over to where Kuroo and Akaashi are, then frowns, deflating. This causes Kuroo to chuckle a bit, crouching down on the bank and patting the merman’s head.

 

“Sorry chibi-chan. Kenma’s coming later.” The ginger pouts a bit, but greets them accordingly. They have to stop him because he keeps saying their names repeatedly in an adorable ‘I can say your name, look!’ way and it’s too cute for them to handle. The other two climb in the water with them, Kuroo’s grin is nearly splitting his face, and Kei makes a noise for Shouyou to stop, who looks offended. Eventually, the ginger tackles him into the water, and before the three humans can get worried, they both reemerge, Kei looking annoyed and Shouyou laughing.

 

Kei’s greeting is much more simple, staring at them with uninterested looks. Bokuto tries to hug him, and he dodges it accordingly. He’s fast in the water, much faster than someone with legs, and he knows it. Kuroo attempts to do the same, but the blond evades it as well, a smug grin on his face. The whole ordeal is funny to Akaashi like a dumb 90s cartoon and he can’t help but laugh. Kei eventually dives underwater, and while Bokuto and Kuroo are busy looking for him, he approaches Akaashi.

 

“Keiji.” He says, floating close to the human. Akaashi gives a tiny, private smile. The mermaid rubs his cheek for a moment, and Akaashi can barely make out a few seconds on Kei’s purr. It’s different than Shouyou- the ginger’s sounds excited and rattley whereas Kei’s sounds deeper, calmer, and somewhat relaxing. They stay like that for a minute or so, and it’s quiet other than Kuroo’s and Bokuto’s searching a bit aways.

 

The moment is ruined by Bokuto screaming “I found you!” and hugging Kei from behind. The mermaid’s face twists into panic for a moment, then settles into annoyance. He flails his tail around, but unlike Bokuto, his arms aren’t strong. In the end, he’s stuck in the hug. Gold eyes flash over to Akaashi, who looks at him sympathetically. Kei accepts his fate, hanging limply in Bokuto’s grip. Kuroo makes his way over, seemingly annoyed.

 

“You little shit.” He seems angry, and Kei smiles as smugly as he can while being held by Bokuto. “How dare you hug him without me bro.” Bokuto drops the mermaid, clutching his heart. 

 

“Bro..” Kei makes a run for it (or rather, a swim for it), but Kuroo catches his arm, pulling him back.

 

“Nope. Group hug.” The two squish the blond between them in a bear hug, both ignoring the slimy feeling of Kei’s tail. The mermaid huffs, giving up. With two strong humans on either side, he has no escape.

 

“You know what I think?” Kuroo asks, a teasing smile on his face. Kei looks at him in question. “I think you’re starting to enjoy this.” He says smugly, surprised to see the smug look on the blond’s face. Before he can act, something wet and smooth hits his face, gentle enough so that he’s not hurt, but hard enough for him to be surprised. Kei floats a few feet away, smirking, and Bokuto and Kuroo begin the mermaid chase once again. 

 

Eventually, they give up, cornering Shouyou instead. Akaashi watches as the mermaid smiles adorably, unknowing of their antics. He makes his way over, and nearly facepalms, overhearing their conversation. Kenma is going to kill them. Kei watches from a bit aways, laying lazily on a rock in a nice sunny spot. The human decides that he’d rather spend time with the blond than watch someone pure being corrupted, and swims over to where Kei lies.

 

It’s quiet for the most part, neither of them saying anything. Akaashi is started when he feels something touch his feet and turns around, only to find Kei inspecting them. He’s frowning, and Akaashi realizes that the merman has probably never seen legs up close before. He wiggles his toes, and Kei’s eyes widen a fraction. He pokes Akaashi’s big toe, ear fins flared as if his toe is some sort of dangerous weapon and he needs to be able to flee on the off chance that it explodes and he’ll have to make a quick escape. 

 

“Keiji?” Kei looks up in question. Akaashi wiggles his toes.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Why are there hands on your legs?” He asks, poking them all one by one. He looks cute like this, at least to Akaashi. While Shouyou is obviously adorable, it’s different. The ginger is cute in an innocent animal sort of way, while Kei is distrustful and cautious- it’s cute to see him let his walls down a little. And the way he’s staring at Akaashi’s feet, the curiosity blatant in his light brown eyes, makes the human’s heart beat a bit faster. He wants to coddle him a bit: Akaashi may not seem like it, but he’s definitely one for physical affection. A selfish part of him wants Kei for himself, but he nudges the feeling away, in favor or wiggling his toes with a small smile.

 

“These are feet. And the things that are sort of like fingers but shorter are called toes.” Kei nods slowly, playing with Akaashi’s feet. He grows bored after a while and glances at Akaashi’s face, light eyes uninterested. Akaashi remembers the books he brought and brings a finger to tell Kei ‘just a second’ although he’s not sure the merman understood him. He climbs out of the water, grabbing the books he brought and slips back into the ocean, taking care not to get the books wet. Kei looks bored, but Akaashi can tell he’s curious in the back and forth movement of his tail. He places one of the books in front of the merman.

 

“These are called books. You read them.” Kei looks inquisitively at the book, frowning as if he’s attempting to read the characters on the cover. Akaashi laughs a bit. “Want me to read it to you?” Kei nods.

 

“Yes, please.” Kei is sarcastic and a little mischievous when it comes to Akaashi’s boyfriends, but with him, he’s adorably polite. Akaashi opens up the first book and begins to read. 

 

It’s a long and tedious process, especially with Kei asking so many questions, but they make it through the book. By the end of it. Kei can read it without any help, and Akaashi pats him on the head as a reward. The merman pulls away initially, but he lets Akaashi pet him once he understands the situation, and even letting out the tiniest of purrs. Akaashi smiles at this. He hopes that Kei will get comfortable enough to show this side to his boyfriends too. 

 

Shouyou and Akaashi’s boyfriends swim over, the ginger looking very happy. Akaashi looks over to Kuroo, who mouths ‘Kenma’s coming’ and Akaashi nods in understanding. The smaller merman has a very strong attachment to Kenma, although he can’t seem to figure out why. Perhaps it’s because the blond is his first human friend, or maybe because the blond is gentle in his affections. Either way, it’s cute to see Kenma, someone so anxious in social situations, to become affectionate with someone other than Kuroo. 

 

Kei and Shouyou rub cheeks as a greeting, and Akaashi is surprised when the ginger does the same to him, a warm smile on his face. He feels his lips twitch upwards. It’s hard not to smile with Shouyou around.

 

“We taught Chibi-chan some new words~!” Kuroo says, a hint of mischief in his voice. Bokuto nods, grinning. Kei shares a confused but doubtful look with Akaashi, who crosses his arms.

 

“Really?” Kuroo mocks offense.

 

“How dare you question us. We would never corrupt this adorable, precious…” He thinks for a second, “creature.” Bokuto nods.

 

“Yeah! We would never!” He crushes Shouyou in a side hug as he says this, and although the hug probably hurts, the mermaid stays smiling. Akaashi sighs.

 

“Shouyou, what did they teach you?” The merman shakes his head.

 

“For Kenma.” He says, grinning a bit sheepishly. Akaashi gives a stern look to his boyfriends.

 

“If you taught him to say anything bad, I will leave  _ both _ of you for Kei and live in the ocean forever.” Bokuto pouts as he says this.

 

“It’s not anything bad- I swear!” Akaashi sighs, shaking his head.

 

“If it’s anything perverted, my threat stands.” Kuroo and Bokuto shake their heads wildly. “Good. Will he be here soon?” Kuroo nods.

 

“He texted me saying he was getting off the bus.”

 

“Good.”

 

A few minutes later, the blond shows up, fumbling over the rocky parts in order to get where his friends are. As soon as his bag is set down and his shoes are off, he slips into the water. Immediately, an orange blur near-tackles him, purring adorably and rubbing cheeks with him.

 

“Kenma!” The voice is way too loud, especially when his ear is so close, but Kenma can’t bring himself to care. He gives a small grin to the merman, whose brown eyes are wide with excitement. Kenma looks away to blush, because cute mermaids are too much for him, especially when he’s so close. 

 

“Kenma! Kuroo-senpai and Bokuto-senpai taught me things!” He says excitedly, hands briefly leaving Kenma in order to wave around in emphasis. Kenma notes the name change, but he wouldn’t put it past those two to want someone as their kouhai. He mentally takes a deep breath, knowing he was probably taught something weird or romance-y- he wouldn’t be surprised if they taught Shouyou to say ‘I love you.’ Although, Kenma doesn’t think he would mind that.

 

“Oh?” He glances at Bokuto and Kuroo, both of which are watching with grins. He turns back to Shouyou. “What did they teach you?”

 

“You’re fintastic!” Shouyou says excitedly, and Kenma shoots a glare in Kuroo’s direction. The two are trying not to laugh, Kei standing next to them, confused, and Akaashi letting out a long sigh. The ginger immediately notices Kenma’s expression, looking concerned. “Kenma?” Kenma swears he’s going to kick both Bokuto’s and Kuroo’s asses.

 

“Thank you, Shouyou. But you’re pronouncing it wrong. It’s ‘fantastic.’ Say it with me?” Shouyou seems re energized, and brown eyes flash, determined.

 

“Fantastic!” Kenma gives an honest to god  _ smile _ because who invented someone so pure? Kenma doesn’t know but he sure as hell is gay. Shouyou’s ear fins flutter and Kenma pulls him back in for a hug.

 

“Good job.” He says softly, ignoring Kuroo’s suggestive look. Shouyou’s skin is warm against his own, and he doesn’t feel the need to let go of him. After a few more cheek rubs, the two go off somewhere, Akaashi guessing Kenma wants to teach him more. Or maybe they just wanted privacy- who knows. Kenma’s always been the type to prefer one on one interactions without the presence of others. And he can’t say he minds being alone with Kei and his boyfriends.

 

The blond stretches, looking at the three humans, seemingly unamused. He floats lazily on his back and the three stay quiet, wondering what to do.  The four play makeshift volleyball together, something the three humans used to do in highschool, until the time comes for the moon to rise and for them to get home. This time, Kei somewhat willingly hugs the three, and they depart with warm hearts. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello!!!! long time no chapter !!! I've been so sick as well as facing some mental health issues so this chapter is a bit short sorry :((( but !!! Sammy (@0rchidd on here and tumblr i believe) made fanart for this fic !!!! idk how to link things but ill just give the urls below !! PLEASe check her art out it is adorable i literally cried when i saw it Sammy i love you???? thank you so muhc !!!
> 
> https://0rchidd.tumblr.com/post/157633197220/been-reading-you-warm-me-like-the-sun-and-guide-me
> 
> https://0rchidd.tumblr.com/post/157714478665/cuteness-inspired-by-you-warm-me-like-the-sun-and
> 
> follow her on tumblr if u want !!! she's great omg !!!  
> also my tumblr is @n-akano now feel free to scream at me or ask any questions about the fic !!! i answered a question about the backstory a bit in my asks tag so yeah !! take a look if u want
> 
> The next chapter will be the mermaids' pov sort of and a bit of background on them !!! so yeah !!!


	5. Chapter 5: Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of the backstory and some insight on Kei's mind i guess :0

_ The water is blue and unforgiving. Soft waves push up against the shore where occasionally, humans will come to swim. This is where Kei and the other mermaids like to hang out. _

 

_ It’s a rainy early morning when Kei first notices it. Tadashi is almost always right beside him, or another one of the mermaids. However, Kei can’t feel his friend’s aura anywhere near any others, and instead, Tadashi’s aura stands alone, dangerously close to the shore. Kei would have preferred it if he was hanging out with Shouyou again, the ginger idiot, again. He’s not sure why Tadashi is straying so close to the shore in the first place.  _

 

_ Not wanting his friend to get in trouble with Koushi, although it’ll probably happen anyways-the sort of ‘mom’ of the group always knew everything concerning the mermaids, Kei swims over to where he feels Tadashi, a spark of worry invading his normally indifferent expression. He catches the wisp of brown hair in the corner of his eye, and hides behind a rock patiently. If Tadashi knows he’s here, he makes no indication of it. Kei can spot his friend’s toothy grin, a soft pink blush dusted over his cheeks. A human with shaggy, auburn hair and pearly white teeth smiles back at Tadashi, laying on his stomach on the rocks, giving the mermaid a kiss. Kei wrinkles his nose in disgust. He’s seen humans do this on the shore, practically eating each other’s faces and touching each other’s bodies in unusual ways. He’s not entirely sure what the human’s intent is when he proceeds with pecking his friend on the lips repeatedly, but Tadashi seems to enjoy it, a wide smile nearly breaking his face. _

 

_ Seeing Tadashi with the human disgusts Kei, but if his friend is happy, he has no objections. He feels a twinge of worry in his gut at leaving his friend with the human but he forces it aside. Tadashi isn’t comfortable with most people, and whoever he trusts, Kei trusts wholeheartedly. Although, Tadashi trusts him, and Kei can’t say he’s the best person. Although he’d never do anything to hurt his friends, or any of the mermaids, he can certainly be snarky. He shrugs off the negative feeling and stays close to where Tadashi is. If anything goes wrong, he wants to be the first to help. _

 

_ It’s not the first he’s heard of the mermaids befriending humans. Kei’s almost positive that Shouyou had swam too close to a boat one day with Tobio. Those two are idiots, but idiots that Kei cares about. According to Tobio, Shouyou froze up while Tobio dived back under the water in order to get out of the human’s line of sight. The idiot floated there, and Tobio was forced to drag him back underwater before the human saw too much of them. There were a few other encounters here and there, mostly involving Shouyou being put up to dares by Yuu or Ryuunosuke. They love him, just as Kei does, but the two are mischievous, and Shouyou curious. Although the two older mermaids always protect the ginger when he’s scared or in trouble, the three of them are a recipe for disaster- a dish Kei wants no part of.  _

 

_ He sees Tadashi again when all the mermaids get together for the moon rising ceremony. Every morning and night, when the sun and moon are lifted and taken down by their leaders, the mermaids gather to watch. They’re most powerful when near each other, so it makes the weight of rising the moon and sun easier to bare.  _

 

_ Koushi is the one responsible for making the moon rise, and Daichi the sun. Although Asahi is the eldest, the two handle the duty of bringing daytime and nighttime more effectively. Koushi is ethereal with his silver hair and pretty brown eyes and the little mole by his left eye. His tail is a pretty silver- the color that lights up the water when the moon is halfway in the sky. The merman is beautiful to say the least, and sort of the one who takes care of all the mermaids. Kei can’t say he minds as they rub cheeks in greeting, a small purr coming from his own throat. Koushi swims away and the ceremony begins. _

 

_ Daichi is the one who brings the sun up each morning without fail. He’s strong, with muscular arms and a strong, thick pale orange tail. His dark eyes can be soft and he can be the kindest mermaid of them all, but he can be harsh and strict for the safety of the mermaids, his family. _

 

_ Kei stands by him, watching idly as Koushi begins to perform the ritual to make the moon rise. It’s an intricate process and takes much of the mermaid’s energy, which is why the other mermaids gather so that they can make sure nothing goes wrong and the mermaid performing the task has enough power to finish the job. Kei has only done the process himself a handful of times, and it’s usually only to practice in case anything were to happen to Koushi (which in unlikely, considering that the mermaids are immortal age wise. Koushi isn’t leaving anytime soon) or the one occurrence where Koushi had scraped his tail horribly and Kei was the only one well enough to cover for him. It was extremely hard on his body, and he doesn’t know how Koushi manages to perform the ritual every night without fail.  _

 

_ Kei admires him for that very trait- the silver haired mermaid looks so powerful performing the ritual, eyes glowing silver and the color filling the water. He’d never admit looking up to Koushi out loud, but internally, he admits it. He catches Tadashi swimming in to watch the ceremony late, his brown hair mussed a bit and his expression sheepish. His friend remains for the rest of the ceremony, wilting under Daichi’s look of disapproval since he was late. After Koushi is finished, Tadashi swims away shamefully, slipping away from the sun riser’s glare. It’s against the rules to be absent from a rising for the reason that it’s dangerous- Koushi could pass out or worse, die. Although mermaids can never die from old age, if they overuse the powers they possess, they could slip into a coma or become ill. There’s never been an incident where a mermaid has died from overusing their abilities, at least not that Kei’s heard of, but the risk still stands and none of them wish to take that chance. Daichi swims after Tadashi to lecture him, and Kei can overhear their conversation a bit, but it’s nothing out of the ordinary. Tadashi promises hastily to never be late again, and Daichi lets him off with a warning. Kei floats near his friend as they swim to Kei’s favorite spot- an unspoken understanding between the two. They always head here whenever they need to talk, and this situation is no exception. _

 

_ “Kei?” Tadashi sounds unsure as he speaks, hands fiddling with the fins on his head nervously. Kei feigns ignorance, sitting down on his usual rock as Tadashi stays floating. _

 

_ “Hm?” The brunette bites his lip, pondering if he should reveal his secret or not. His tail flips back and forth and his eyes flicker from Kei’s to the ground. Kei can feel the anxiety radiating out of Tadashi’s aura, and the anxiety spreads to him, but only minorly. _

 

_ “I’m dating a human.” Tadashi looks relieved as he says this, finally getting the words out of his system. Kei, frowns, confused. _

 

_ “Dating? What does that mean?” He rarely lets this side of him see the light of day, but he’s comfortable showing it to his friend as he tilts his head in confusion, his head fins flared out as he thinks. Tadashi looks slightly less nervous as he laughs at Kei’s cuteness.  _

 

_ “It means I’m with him.” Tadashi says softly, his hands clasped together to fend off the anxiety. Kei only looks more confused at this, checking around the small bed of coral that they’re in. _

 

_ “He’s here? Where?” The fins on his head press flatly against his hair, and he frowns. Tadashi is quick to reassure him that he’s not in fact with them at the moment, and explains that it’s a common term used by humans.  _

 

_ The brunette explains to the best of his ability the concept of romantic attraction, something unfamiliar to the mermaid race as a whole. Kei has never heard of needing anyone outside of his fellow mermaids, but the thought of depending on a human makes him nauseous. The mermaids simply exist- there is no way to produce more of them.They were not born or created, they simply became, and with that, the purpose to bring the light of the sun and the moon to the humans and animals inhabiting the planet. The mermaids as a whole do not need anything besides each other- no water or food must be consumed for them to survive, no specific gas is needed for them to breathe. Their relationships are purely based on survival, at least, that’s what Kei believes, and the concept of needing someone romantically is something that’s hard for him to comprehend and leaves a bad taste in his mouth. _

 

_ But Tadashi looks so happy. Kei watches him rant about his ‘boyfriend’ as the humans call it, and feels his heart grow warm. His best friend and fellow mermaid is excited, something that he knows is hard for Tadashi to express without feeling embarrassed. Kei knows he should let it go, that he should be the bigger person and a good friend and just let Tadashi be happy, but he doesn’t trust the humans at all, especially not around his best friend.  _

 

_ “Tadashi.” Kei interrupts his friend in the middle of his sentence about the human. Tadashi stops, smile disappearing, a soft ‘yeah’ rippling through the water. The blond takes a deep breath, knowing what he has to do. _

 

_ “I want you to stop meeting that human.” Hurt flashes across his friend’s face, and for a moment, Kei wishes he could take that statement back, but he has to stay strong. “Listen, it’s for your own good, Tadashi. He could hurt you- he could hurt all of us. Don’t be an idiot- think about what you’re doing.” Kei waits anxiously for a reply, his face neutral but his thoughts racing. If Tadashi will listen to anyone, it’s him, but he doesn’t know if he will listen at all. The brunette doesn’t respond for a moment, taking interest in the millions of grains of sand on the ground.  _

 

_ “Tadashi?-” Kei inquires, but at the same moment, Tadashi decides to speak. _

 

_ “Why?” The merman’s eyes are red and puffy, and the ripples in which his voice travels is uneasy. Kei is quick to react. _

 

_ “I know this isn’t what you want to hear but-” _

 

_ “Why can’t I be happy?” Kei’s heart breaks upon seeing his friend so upset, but the thought of leaving Tadashi alone with a human again drives him forwards. He lightly touches Tadashi’s shoulder, a bold gesture for Kei who doesn’t give out physical contact often, and allows himself to purr in what he hopes is a comforting manner.  _ __   
  


_ “You can be happy. Just, not with him okay? You’re putting us all in danger by doing this and you know it.” Kei relaxes his shoulders, fixing his glare into a softer look. “I just want you safe.” Tadashi jerks his shoulder away from him. _

 

_ “I’d rather be unsafe with the love of my life than safe with you.” The words are harsh coming out of Tadashi, and Kei can feel the sour taste of it as his hand leaves his friend’s shoulder. Tadashi swims away before the blond can demand him to stay because this isn’t over, and god help Kei he will make sure that his friend stays safe.  _

 

_ The next morning, Kei doesn’t see Tadashi at the sun rising ceremony. He’s worried, not only for the reason that Tadashi will be in trouble with Daichi and Koushi, but because he feels his aura a bit aways and he knows that he’s with that human again. It infuriates Kei that his friend is being like this, insensitive and reckless in his demeanor and putting them all at risk. The sun rising ceremony finishes without problem, besides the fact that everyone knows Tadashi isn’t there. Everyone is worried obviously- they’re all family in a sense, and having a sibling missing is alarming, but no one’s fear rivals Kei’s. _

 

_ Swimming towards where they feel Tadashi’s aura, none of them speak, anxiety ruling over their normally chatty selves. Even Shouyou, who’s always over enthusiastic and happy and bubbly to the point to where Kei is forced to tell him to shut up, is completely quiet, brown eyes wide with worry and what Kei thinks is fear. None of the other mermaids know what Kei knows, so it’s natural that they’d be panicky. For all they know, Tadashi wasn’t at the ceremony because he was captured or injured, so Kei understands their frightened demeanor. _

 

_ Daichi leads the way, his thick, powerful tail aiding him to move faster than the others. Although Kei’s tail is long and he has no problems keeping up, some of the other mermaids with shorter tails struggle. Daichi and Kei arrive at the scene first, and Kei feels his gut twist at what he sees.  _

 

_ The two of them are the same as how they were yesterday, although there are more humans surrounding them. Tadashi still seems calm, happy even. It puzzles Kei, who’s mind screams that they’re all in danger, especially as one of the humans gives him a shark toothed grin. He can feel Daichi’s aura next to him, strong and protective, and immediately feels more safe. Koushi and the others catch up to them, and Daichi finally speaks. _

 

_ “Tadashi. What are you doing?” The sound ripples through the air, although only the mermaids can hear what he’s saying. The brunette is startled at the riser’s voice, his affections for the human causing the auras of his family to go unnoticed by him. He pulls away from his human hastily, who frowns in disappointment. Then Tadashi responds. _

 

_ “I...um...made a friend.” His ear fins flutter nervously under Daichi’s stern gaze. “I’m in love with him.” Brown eyes sharpen and the freckled mermaid flinches, feeling the anger radiating off of the riser. Koushi touches Daichi’s arm, as if to say ‘calm down,’ and it works, but only a bit. The sun riser crosses his arms. _

 

_ “Tadashi, what you’re doing is dangerous. We’re leaving now, and you’re coming with us.” Tadashi lets his hair fall in front of his eyes, contemplating. He moves to turn away. _

 

_ “No.” Daichi looks surprised. _

 

_ “No?” Tadashi is angry. _

 

_ “You know nothing about our love. He’s not dangerous to me- he loves me as you love me. Maybe even more!” He cuts off his rant by swimming closer to Daichi, grabbing his hands. “We’ve been scared of the humans for far too long.” Daichi is surprised like this, seemingly not knowing how to react. For a moment, Kei is smug, thinking that there’s no way in hell that Daichi would agree to trusting humans, but he’s proven wrong as the riser resigns. Tadashi looks hopeful, his momentary anger lost, and Daichi’s eyes crinkle the way they do when he’s thinking.  _

 

_ “You trust them?” The riser inquires, and Tadashi nods. _

 

_ “With my life.” Daichi sighs, his gaze wandering from the humans on the bank and then back to the other mermaids. _

 

_ “Well then, they have my trust as well.” He begins to swim away from Tadashi, his way of letting them be alone. “Don’t make me regret this.” _

 

~~~

 

Kei wakes up curled next to Shouyou, the ginger still resting soundly, his tail flicking occasionally. He hasn’t dreamt of what happened for a while, and he wonders why the memories came back now. Perhaps it’s because of the humans Shouyou befriended- the ones that Kei merely tolerate. Although Shouyou looks so happy with them, the happiest since they lost their family, Kei can’t let history repeat itself again.

 

Shouyou is all Kei has left, and although he can be annoying and much too loud for his liking, Kei values his fellow mermaid more than anything. Although he permits Shouyou to be friends with Kenma and the others, he’s ready to drop everything to protect him if things go awry. He knows the ginger would do the same thing to him, and he’s done so on occasion. A human had once grabbed his tail, and wouldn’t let go, so Shouyou bit him in the leg as hard as he could, leaving a nasty wound. They both got away safely, luckily, but he can’t say as much for the human.

 

Looking back on what happened to the other mermaids, Kei can’t help but feel he’s at fault. He was against befriending the humans from the beginning, but didn’t it to the others besides Tadashi, and he thinks that if he had, all of them would still be alive and it wouldn’t just be him and Shouyou. 

 

He remembers the day they were taken clear as day, can hear the voices of his fellow mermaids screaming. He remembers the way Shouyou squirmed, as the injury that left a small scar on his tail was inflicted by the humans. He remembers holding the ginger after the others were taking away, trying desperately to close the wound with his abilities before Shouyou bled out, the smaller letting out soft cries into Kei’s shoulder. 

 

It’s difficult to think about these things, for both of them, and it was hard for both of them to adjust to becoming risers. Rising the moon and sun had proved to be even more difficult without the rest of the mermaids supporting them, and it left both of them exhausted for the first few years. Eventually, the auras of the other mermaids that they still felt from so far away burned out, leaving Shouyou and Kei alone for good. The day that they couldn’t feel their friends again was the first time in Kei’s hundreds of years of living that salt water leaked from his eyes. 

 

Now, with Shouyou tucked safely in Kei’s arms, he’s protective of him, and for good reason. All humans are bad, he thinks, but then his thoughts drift to the way Bokuto and Kuroo hugged him, and how Keiji brought him human books to read. A voice in his head reminds him, like a gun shot fired, that the humans are what murdered the other mermaids, that murdered his only friends, and the thought forces Kei to take a shaky breath in, trying not to wake Shouyou. He’s reminded that no matter how playful and friendly the three humans seem, they are not to be trusted. Kenma seems mellow enough try anything, Kei reasons, but the voice in the back of his mind speaks again, and despite every inch of Kenma’s persona being calm and collected, Kei still feels paranoid about letting Shouyou anywhere near him. It’s difficult to control these protective thoughts, but no matter how sad SHouyou is, a sad friend is much better than a dead one.

 

Shouyou stirs from his place nestled against Kei, and stretches out his arms and tail, yawning, brown eyes fluttering open sleepily. It’s time for the ginger to rise the sun, and Kenma is visiting today, most likely hauling the other three humans with him. Kei doesn’t want them to come, doesn’t want Shouyou to be put in danger again, and every time he thinks for a moment that the humans are okay and that they’ll both be completely safe, he catches a glimpse of the scar on Shouyou’s tail and instantly changes his mind. There’s no way that the humans just want to befriend them or talk to them, and even after showing letting his guard down and rubbing his cheek against Keiji’s, he still feels uneasy about their motives.

 

The two mermaids swim to the surface, far away from any shore, and Shouyou begins the process of rising the sun. He’s not as strong as Daichi is, or at least doesn’t look it with his short tail and frail figure, but his powerful spirit makes up for it, and he brings the sun up into the sky with no issues. Although Kei knows that Daichi is long gone, he can still see him residing in Shouyou, the same look of determination that their leader once adorned showing on the ginger’s face. It makes him smile a bit, although the smile is bittersweet, but it’s a smile nonetheless. 

 

Shouyou swims off to go meet Kenma, and Kei stays close by, out of sight but close enough to intervene if something were to happen. He hears the three larger humans calling for him, but ignores it in favor of curling up in the sun. He’s still tired, and maybe closing his eyes for a bit won’t hurt.

 

~~~

 

_ “He’s a scientist.” Tadashi explains after a moon rising ceremony has been completed. “Specifically a marine biologist. He knows practically everything about the ocean, and he’d love to study us mermaids.” Kei is brooding in the corner, having initially refused to participate in this meeting, but a sharp look from Koushi changed his mind. Daichi scratches his chin, deep in thought. _

 

_ “What do you mean?” Asahi speaks finally from his seat on a moss covered rock. Tadashi pushes a strand of hair behind his right fin. The atmosphere is somewhat tense, as the mermaids have only recently learned of the relationship between Tadashi and the humans. Only a handful of the mermaids have proved to be against the idea, while others believe that it’s time for change. Kei is certainly not with the latter no matter how much he cares about his friend. His gut tells him that this is wrong and that the humans can’t be trusted, and Kei is almost always correct when it comes to these things.  _

 

_ “My boyfriend..” Tadashi’s cheeks turn pink as he says this. “My boyfriend would like to take us on land to study us.” He’s quick to reassure that they won’t be in danger, and although it takes a lot of explaining, Tadashi manages to convince even the mermaids who had initially been against the humans, Kei aside. Although a part of Kei tells himself that he’s being an asshole and that he should just trust and support his friend, Kei is stubborn by nature and won’t budge.  _

 

_ “So,” Daichi says later in the meeting, anxiety having left the mermaids, “are we all in agreement? If you’re for going on land in order for the humans to get to know us better, say aye.”  A chorus of ‘aye’s ripple through the water. Kei doesn’t speak. Daichi notices, and swims over to where Kei is. _

 

_ “I didn’t hear you say ‘aye’, Kei.” His voice is between confusion and sternness, and the indifferent look never leaves Kei’s face.  _

 

_ “That’s because I’m not for trusting the humans.” His face is even and calm, giving no indication of anything but confidence in his decision, and Daichi gives an irritated grunt. _

 

_ “We either do this together or not at all.” He says finally, looking Kei dead in the eyes. “Are you in or not?” Kei can’t deny the fact that Daichi intimidates him, but he stands his ground, his long tail giving him height advantage over the riser. _

 

_ “My decision stands.” Tadashi’s face falls in the corner of Kei’s eye, and he knows he’s won. Daichi turns to swim away. _

 

_ “Well, we’re going after the sun rising ceremony to meet the humans and go on land.” He gives one final glance to Kei. “You’re welcome to join us if you change your mind.” _

 

_ Kei arrives where the humans are a bit aways, hiding behind a rock. His long tail is tucked neatly behind him, and he watches the ordeal go does. He knows that the humans will betray them, and he’ll save them and smugly say ‘I told you so’ but the only thing that matters to him is that no one gets hurt. He sees Tadashi exchange pleasantries with the auburn haired human, who lifts him out of the water. Tadashi glows for a second and Kei can feel the exertion of power that his friend is using, and instead of the long pale salmon tail, two tan legs stand in its place. This isn’t something that Kei or any of the others even knew could be done, but from the looks of it, Tadashi used his abilities to make himself completely human. _

 

_ The factor of shock is washed away quickly, especially when things start to go to shit, and fast. Kei almost had believed that the humans wouldn’t do anything, but as he watches the auburn take out something silver and place it near Tadashi’s neck, he knows something’s wrong. Time seems to speed up, yet slow down at the very same time as Kei watches the other mermaids, his family, be taken by the humans. His tail can’t carry him fast enough, and the screams of the others are piercing.  _

 

_ “Tadashi!” Kei is panting, swimming as fast as he can, but it’s not nearly as fast as he needs to be as his friend disappears from his view, the auburn human walking away with the mermaid in his arms. The same happens to Asahi and Koushi, both of which flail before going limp. Kei’s heart pounds in his throat, and he watches helplessly as Ryuunosuke is taken as well, the mermaid hitting the humans with all his might but eventually being captured and carried away. The whole ordeal is a nightmare, and as Kei finally arrives at the bank, he realizes it’s much too late to save all of them. _

 

_ To his left, Shouyou is being captured, but the ginger is small and with some struggle, slips away from the humans’ grasp. One of them impales his tail with something sharp, and Kei flinches at the sound of the mermaid’s scream. Thinking fast, Kei jerks the weapon out of the human’s hand, escorting Shouyou far away from the humans, the ginger safely in his arms. Looking back at the scene, none of the mermaids are left in sight, and the auras of them travel further away and grow more faint as the seconds go by. _

 

_ But Kei can’t think about that right now- Shouyou is injured, and badly at that. He quickly takes a deep breath and summons as much power as possible, which is hard considering how much he’s shaking and that he’s has a connection to the moon and not the sun, and it’s currently daytime. He uses the strength he has left to seal the wound, albeit messily, but it gets the job done. The humans call out for them by name, and Kei holds his breath, pressing Shouyou close to his chest as if to make them both seem smaller. Hearing the name spoken aloud rather than by humans is daunting and blood rushes to Kei’s ears. He wants to cover them, to make them stop spilling his name from their ugly lips, when suddenly he’s shaken. _

 

“Kei…...Kei.” The voice no longer sounds like the auburn haired human, and upon opening his eyes, Kei sees the four humans along with Shouyou looking down at him, concerned. Alarmed, Kei sits up, pushing the closest human with all his might and slips into the water, wincing as he clumsily scrapes his tail on a sharp rock. He’s panting because the humans are here and they’re dangerous and ‘they’re going to hurt Shouyou’ plays in Kei’s mind like a broken record as he grabs the ginger and swims deep, deeper than the humans can handle. Shouyou resists it a bit, lightly tugging his arm and then accepting his fate, eyes wide with worry. Kei knows he’s not being rash, and if they had stayed any longer the humans would give them the same fate as the auburn haired one from before.

 

“Kei?” It’s Shouyou saying it this time, his voice rippling through the water comfortably. Kei’s judgment is clouded, and he near hits his head on a rock while swimming, his limbs and tail trembling. His vision is blinded by the pure whiteness of fear as the events of that day play over and over in his head. For a moment, he can’t move and he feels like he might die, and he holds onto the thing closest to him, feeling himself being lifted. The next thing he remembers is waking up in Bokuto’s tan arms.

 

Kei is much too weak to move, especially after whatever that episode was, and although he’s panicking internally, he can’t bring himself to slip out of the human’s arms. Shouyou tackles him protectively, rubbing his cheek against the blond and purring loudly, something that calms Kei’s anxiety. He’s had experiences like this before, where he’s met with sheer terror and can’t calm his breathing, but never to the point where he can’t remember the events that took place. 

 

“Kei?” Shouyou says aloud so that the others can hear it, brown eyes red and puffy. Kei pulls him close, purring a bit in order to calm the other’s nerves. His breathing steadies and he turns to the four humans. The three that he’s used to seeing hug him, and Kei can’t help but flinch away from them. They pull away from him upon realizing that he needs space, but seem fine other than the obvious worry in their eyes. Shouyou’s human seems worried too, but more about the ginger than himself. 

 

“Are you alright, Kei-san?” Akaashi asks lightly, his voice soothing. Kei is unfamiliar with the add on to his name at first, then he remembers what Keiji had told him about honorifics. He nods hastily, a small ‘yeah’ escaping his lips. Bokuto bounds forward, scooping Kei in his arms, causing him to panic, but the human pets the hair right next to his head fins and he remembers that the human holding him has never harmed him before and Kei finds it in him to relax, even enjoying the physical contact a bit. A purr rumbles in his chest, bringing him back to the realization that he’s displaying his vulnerable side to humans of the same species that killed the rest of them. 

 

Kei stiffens in Bokuto’s arms and worms his way out, ignoring the dejected look on the human’s face. He will not create emotional ties to humans, he will not suffer the same fate as the other mermaids, he will not fall for their trap again. He stays curled away from the humans as he hears Shouyou explains to Kenma and the other that they needs some space.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no chapter! I've been having some...issues lately so this chapter probably isn't as good as I'd hoped it'd be but hopefully it suffices.
> 
> Some knowledge for this particular AU:
> 
> -The mermaids speak telepathically in a way. The noises they make travel via water ripples, and the language they speak is in no way shape or form close to Japanese other than their given name
> 
> -The mermaids only have a given name and no last name. None of them are technically related to each other, but since they are the only of their race, it makes sense to call them family i guess??
> 
> -The mermaids have telekinetic abilities and others, which they use mainly in order to make the sun and moon rise and set. They do have shape shifting abilities etc but they aren't commonly used as rising the sun/moon takes up most of their ability (think of it like getting daily allowance- you can only use a certain amount before you run out). You can overexert yourself if you go in the negatives or push yourself too hard, and it has only proven to cause extreme fatigue, illness, or a short coma.
> 
> -The mermaids need nothing but sleep to survive. They're celestial beings so they don't consume things or breathe air. All they need is the occasional sleep, and that's only if they've used some of their power (in order to recharge I guess)
> 
> That's all for now!! If you have any questions leave them in the comments!!

**Author's Note:**

> hi what's up gamers and welcome to another overwatch live commentary!! We're going in as zenyatta and 
> 
> hello! i redid the first chapter and will redo the rest! expect sooner updates and longer chapters :) also???? like chapter is over 3,000 words long and its like 2 hours max of story me @ myself why are you like this??? 
> 
> Also! They're all around 19-24 ish range in this. The mermaids are immortal age wise but if they bled out they die but they age very very slowly! I'll add more of the mermaid universe story throughout the chapters but you're free to ask in the comments or on my tumblr! And for the purring/bird noises, i read somewhere a while back that ancient greek sirens were part human part bird and part fish, so i decided that the noises/purring would stay and that it'd make it cuter overall. And /yes/ mermaids are VERY affectionate towards each other in a platonic way so expect Tsukishima and Hinata to have some cute moments!
> 
> Also- does anyone know how to remove the chapter 3 thing? it says theres only one chapter but :0
> 
> hit me up on tumblr (idk how to link it but its boysofts so yeah!)


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